


The History of Us: Protecteur

by Daisy Gamgee (DaisyGamgee)



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-16
Updated: 2013-06-16
Packaged: 2017-12-15 04:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/845332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyGamgee/pseuds/Daisy%20Gamgee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merry and Pervinca have an important discussion about Pippin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The History of Us: Protecteur

He grabbed her by the elbow before she even saw him, and nearly lifted her off her feet when he steered her toward the Great Smials' third visitor's parlor.

"What are you about, Merry Brandybuck?" Pervinca squealed. "Stop it!" She shook his hand off her arm when he deposited her firmly on the brocaded sofa, and her brown eyes flashed dark as rich loam. "You can't come into my home and haul me about like I'm a sack of turnips." Vinca squared her shoulders and arranged herself on the cushions as if she were mistress of the Tookland.

"If you touch him again," Merry said coldly, glaring down at her, "you'll answer to me." He kicked the door shut with his foot, resulting in an air-rattling bang.

She flinched, then frowned up at him. "I could address that much more effectively if I knew what the muck you were talking about." Vinca crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "I'll excuse your impudent behavior for now."

"Oh, don't play that game with me, Pervinca Took." Merry stuffed his balled-up fists into his pockets. "I've seen you piss standing up in a cabbage patch. I'm not impressed with your 'I'm daughter of the Took and Thain' manure."

Vinca scowled but relaxed her posture. "Fine. Now tell me what you're rabbiting on about."

"You beat Pippin." It was not a question, but a controlled statement of fact.

"Yes. And?"

"Because he loves me." Merry felt his cheeks flush.

Vinca's eyes narrowed. "And?"

Merry's fists came out of his pockets, but he kept them firmly at his sides. He wanted nothing more just then than to smack the sneer off her face; he collected himself with an effort. "You won't do it again."

Vinca stood and stepped toward him. "I'll do what I need to do to make sure my brother grows up proper. If that means beating that fool idea out of his head, then that's what I'll do."

Merry leaned toward her. "I'll do what I need to do to protect him from being thrashed simply because he loves me. If that means taking my fist to your fat head…" His smile made her back up a step. "Then that's what I'll do."

Vinca drew herself up to her full height, which wasn't especially impressive, even with her Brandybuck blood, and Merry still glowered down at her. "He's not your responsibility."

"Oh, yes," Merry said firmly, "he is. What happens to him affects me. If you hit Pippin, you hit me. If you hit me," Merry said with a grin, "I hit back."

Vinca crossed her arms defensively. "Did you come here to threaten me? Go ahead, hit me. It doesn't change anything. You'll just give me a reason to get you banned from my home." She pushed him hard on the chest, and he stumbled backwards. "Hit me, Merry, so I can get your filthy hands away from my brother."

His rage got the better of him, and he grabbed her shoulders roughly; when she shrank from him, frightened, he laughed, then shoved her back onto the sofa. She sat with an undignified flop, and Merry sat beside her.

"What happened to you?" he asked in contempt. "Does Pearl slap you around, so you pass it down? Do you hate me so much that you beat your own brother because of me?" He examined her through narrowed eyes. "You were my friend, once."

"And you were mine." Vinca brushed her sleeves where Merry's fingers had crushed the carefully arranged fabric. "Now I don't know what you are."

"I'm the same as I ever was," Merry returned. "But you've turned into someone who beats her baby brother because he trusted you with what's in his heart." He straightened in his seat. "It won't happen again, Vinca. He's too sweet to lie, and I don't want him to learn how. You keep your hands off him."

"If you'd keep your hands off him, I wouldn't have to beat him," Vinca snapped. "Go find some other lad to bugger. You'll not have my brother."

"Is that what you think?" Merry's voice rose and his hand nearly flew to strike her. "After all the years we were close, you and I, and this is what you think of me? That I'd take advantage of a child?" He heard a rushing in his head and wondered how red his face had gotten in his anger.

Vinca huffed, blushed, then looked away. "No," she said finally. "No, Merry, I know you better than that. You wouldn't take what isn't right." Her voice hardened again. "Peregrin's to be the Thain someday, Merry, and you, Master of Buckland. How will the Shire fare with you two carrying on with each other like…" She pursed her lips. "It isn't natural."

"I'm sorry Vinca," Merry answered. "I hadn't realized that the future of all hobbitkind was at stake. I've seen the error of my ways."

"Oh, don't toy with me," she snapped. "All I'm trying to do is bring the lad up right. And 'right" doesn't include being in love with another lad. Especially you."

Merry frowned. "Why especially me? Would you feel better if he were in love with Fatty Bolger?"

"Now you're just being thick."

"You can't beat the love out of him," Merry said evenly. "You can't scold it away, or make him weep it out of his system, or threaten him until his heart goes black. But you can make him hate you, Vinca." When she didn't respond, he pressed on. "I meant to bring him here and leave him for the spring."

Vinca raised an eyebrow and snorted in disbelief.

"Oh, I did. I told him so, too. Said I was taking him home for his own good. But he wouldn't go. He tried to dig his way through four feet of snow out to the road, to run off to Buckland and wait for me, rather than come home."

"I don't believe you."

"It doesn't matter," Merry said wearily. "It doesn't matter what you believe. I didn't come here to discuss this with you, anyway. I came to tell you that the beatings end now." He looked down at her sadly. "I miss you, Vinca. I miss who Vinca was when we were children. She was my best friend."

"She had to grow up, Merry," Vinca said, looking at the floor.

"She didn't have to grow cold, and hard, and mean," he replied. "And you won't hit my Pippin again. I'll make sure of it."

"He's not your Pippin," she objected. "He's…"

"Yes, Vinca," Merry interrupted sharply. "Yes, he is mine. He always has been. He always will be. And I'm his." He placed his hand on the doorknob, then turned back to her. "You can accept it, or you can live with a bitter hole in your heart, but you can't change it." Merry turned the knob and went into the hall, closing the door quietly behind him. He leaned against the wall with a deep sigh, and his shoulders sagged.

"Merry?"

He looked over and smiled, straightening. "Were you listening, goose?"

"No," Pippin answered with a shrug. "I was just waiting for you." He brightened. "It's time for luncheon! I'm famished. We missed elevenses, on the road."

Merry wrapped an arm around Pippin and smooched him solidly and loudly on the forehead. "Let's go have extra, then, and talk to your Da about the summer. I think it's time you learned to swim."

"Oh, no," Pippin answered in alarm. "Not again. Not in the river!"

"Oh, yes," Merry said cheerfully. "And paddle a boat, too." He led Pippin toward the dining room. "Not to worry, Pip, I won't let you drown."

"I know, Merry," Pippin said, and ran ahead to the table to save their places.

The trust in his voice made Merry's heart sing a happy little tune, and he hummed it aloud as he sat down to his meal.

@@ END @@


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